Germany’s Rooftop PV Auction Average Tariffs Go Up

• The solar tender round for rooftop solar and noise barriers held on February 1, 2023 undersubscribed in Germany
• Against 217 MW on offer, Bundesnetzagentur awards 195 MW out of bids coming in for 213 MW
• Weighted average tariffs go up from €0.0874/kWh in the previous round to €0.1087/kWh

The Federal Network Agency of Germany or Bundesnetzagentur had another round of an undersubscribed auction for solar on rooftops and noise barriers. It attracted 213 MW capacity, a little less than the 217 MW on offer for the tender held on February 1, 2023. Out of the bids it selected 195 MW capacity to 87 bids.

This undersubscription is reported despite the government raising ceiling tariff for these tenders to €0.1125/kWh, and even for ground mounted tenders the tariff limit has been raised to €0.0737/kWh (see Germany Caps Ground Mounted PV Tender Tariff At €0.0737/kWh).

Nonetheless, Bundesnetzagentur sees the performance in this rooftop PV round as starting a positive momentum for the future rounds.

"Raising the maximums was important. However, we must continue to work on expanding the suitable and priority areas and speeding up the approvals in order to achieve the urgently needed expansion," said Federal Network Agency President Klaus Müller.

For the recently concluded round, the average winning bid was determined as €0.1087/kWh, while the lowest and highest tariffs were selected between €0.090/kWh and €0.1125/kWh.

In the previous round held on December 1, 2022 weighted average was €0.0874/kWh, and the lowest and highest ranged within €0.0809/kWh and €0.0891/kWh (see Another Undersubscribed Rooftop Solar Auction In Germany).

Of the winning solar projects in the February 1, 2023 auction, most of the projects will be located in North Rhine-Westphalia with 36 MW combined capacity, followed by 20 MW in Brandenburg, 19 MW each in Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria and 15 MW in Lower Saxony. Details of the winning projects are available on the agency's website.

Next round for rooftop solar and solar for noise barriers is scheduled to be held on June 1, 2023. Under the country's revamped Renewable Energy Sources Act (EEG) 2023, the agency has the mandate to tender 650 MW rooftop solar capacity to be divided into 3 lots throughout 2023.

The agency also declared results for an onshore wind energy auction for which the tendered amount was almost 3.21 GW and the bids it received added up to only 1.502 GW.